Mueller gathers evidence that 2017 Seychelles meeting was effort to establish back channel to Kremlin … Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has gathered evidence that a secret meeting in the Seychelles just before the inauguration of Donald Trump was an effort to establish a back channel between …

Exclusive polls: Big warning signs for Senate Democrats  —  Five Senate Democrats would lose to a Republican candidate if the election were held today and three have approval ratings under 50%, according to new Axios/SurveyMonkey polls.  —  Keep reading  —  352 WORDS

Trump upset with Sanders over Stormy Daniels response  —  Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump is upset with White House press secretary Sarah Sanders over her responses Wednesday regarding his alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels, a source close to the White House tells CNN.

Miss Universe in Moscow: How Trump's beauty contest spawned a business deal with Russians and a bond with Putin  —  This is the first of two excerpts adapted from  —  Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin's War on America and the Election of Donald Trump (Twelve Books), by Michael Isikoff …

If You Truly Care About Speech, You Will Invite Me to Your Office to Personally Call You a Dipshit  —  Civil society requires the toleration of the expression of opposing viewpoints, no matter how personally discomforting you may find them.  Therefore, it would be profoundly hypocritical …

This Anti-Semitic Term Was Casually Used During A White House Briefing  —  Its use came a day after it was used to describe a Jewish White House official, sparking concern on social media.  —  There's perhaps never a bad time to stretch or rethink one's vocabulary.

Russian Trolls Tried to Torpedo Mitt Romney's Shot at Secretary of State  —  Online campaign targeted the ex-GOP nominee as Donald Trump considered him in late 2016  —  Weeks after Donald Trump was elected president, Russia-backed online “trolls” flooded social media to try to block Mitt Romney …

A team asked Derrius Guice if he likes men  —  The calendar says 2018.  Some NFL locker rooms remain trapped in 1960.  —  Running back Derrius Guice said in a Wednesday night appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio that a team asked him at the Scouting Combine if he likes men.

Several White House staffers terminated or reassigned for security clearance issues: Sources  —  Several White House staffers have been terminated or reassigned for issues related to their security clearances — with at least one individual employed in the Office of the First Lady relieved of duty …

Women We Overlooked in 167 Years of New York Times Obituaries  —  The poet Sylvia Plath and the novelist Charlotte Brontë.  Ida B. Wells, the anti-lynching activist.  These extraordinary women — and so many others — did not have obituaries in The New York Times.  Until now.

House 2018: 26 Ratings Changes, All in Favor of Democrats  —  PA-18 special now a Toss-up; Democratic incumbents in strong position; and what about Paul Ryan?  —  KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE  — With less than a week to go, the PA-18 special election moves from Leans Republican to Toss-up.

Kushner Meets With Mexican President, Underscoring Shift in U.S. Diplomacy  —  MEXICO CITY — Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, met with Mexico's president on Wednesday, arriving just weeks after a planned meeting between the nations' leaders fell apart …

Now we know why defense attorneys quit the USS Cole case.  They found a microphone.  —  Lawyers for the alleged USS Cole bombing mastermind quit the capital case after discovering a microphone in their special client meeting room and were denied the opportunity to either talk about or investigate it, the Miami Herald has learned.

Huffman High School shooting: Courtlin Arrington killed; Birmingham police question injured teen  —  A Huffman High School senior was killed and another injured when gunfire erupted inside a classroom at the east Birmingham school Wednesday afternoon.  —  Killed was a 17-year-old girl …

Russians released anti-Clinton video game weeks before election  —  Russians created an anti-Hillary Clinton video game called “Hilltendo” and tried to make it go viral in the weeks before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, CNN has determined through a review of internet records and computer code.

Eleven nations - but not U.S. - to sign Trans-Pacific trade deal  —  SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Eleven countries are expected to sign a landmark Asia-Pacific trade agreement in Santiago on Thursday as an antidote to the increasingly protectionist bent of the United States, which pulled out of the pact last year.

Macroeconomic effects of the 2017 tax reform  —  DOWNLOAD  —  Editor's Note:  —  This paper is part of the Spring 2018 edition of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, the leading conference series and journal in economics for timely, cutting-edge research about real-world policy issues.

Senate Claims to Fix Its Wall Street Bill, but a Look at the Text Says It's Still a Giveaway  —  Earlier this week, the Senate got 50 Republicans, 16 Democrats, and one Democratic-leaning independent to move forward on S.2155, the bipartisan bank deregulation bill.

Why a white town paid for a class called ‘Hispanics 101’ … BRANSON, Mo. — In a ballroom with antlers on the wall and hoof prints on the carpet, diversity coach Miguel Joey Aviles asked whether anyone knew how to merengue.  —  “Lord have mercy,” he said, counting hands.  “Only two?”

Two Miramar SWAT officers suspended for heading to Parkland massacre  —  Sun Sentinel  —  When a gunman started shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, two Miramar SWAT team members did what comes naturally: They went to help.  —  Now they've been suspended for it.

The Autumn of the Oscars  —  There are conservatives, including the president of the United States, who take a special kind of glee in the declining ratings for the Academy Awards, which hit an all-time low this weekend under the stewardship of Jimmy Kimmel and in the shadow of hideous revelations …

FBI briefed lawmakers on failures leading up to Florida shooting  —  Top House Republicans said Wednesday that a senior FBI official had briefed lawmakers on the agency's failure to respond to warnings about the teenager accused of carrying out a deadly shooting at a South Florida high school last month.

Trump Tweet on China Trade Understates U.S. Demand — by $99 Billion  —  President asked Beijing to cut U.S. trade deficit with China by $1 billion—less than 0.3% of the countries' annual trade gap  —  BEIJING—President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday that Washington had asked Beijing …

Outrage Over Footage of Police Officer Beating a Black Man in North Carolina  —  Body camera video showing a black man being Tasered and beaten during a confrontation with two white police officers who accused him of jaywalking has sent shock waves through the western North Carolina city of Asheville …

Poisoned Russian spy Sergei Skripal was close to consultant who was linked to the Trump dossier  —  A security consultant who has worked for the company that compiled the controversial dossier on Donald Trump was close to the Russian double agent poisoned last weekend, it has been claimed.